Massive leak of TTIP shows just why they wanted to keep it secret

Today’s publication of the 248-page leak of negotiating documents for the controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) spells the end of the controversial EU-US deal, campaigners said today.

The texts of the TTIP negotiations have been kept strictly secret until today’s leak, which reveals European Commission negotiators preparing to trade away key sectors of the European economy in order to win contracts for multinational corporations in the USA.

The leaked documents, which represent 13 of the 17 chapters currently in ‘consolidated text’ form, also confirm that TTIP will open the door to US producers of genetically modified food and other products banned in the EU for public health and environmental reasons, confirming fears that European regulatory standards will be abandoned in the deal.

Additionally, they show that the USA is refusing to accept any ‘reforms’ suggested by the EU to the hugely controversial investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) ‘corporate court’ mechanism, which allows big business to sue governments for lost profits.

Reacting to the publication of the leaked documents, John Hilary, Executive Director of War on Want, said:

“We have long warned that TTIP is a danger to democracy, food safety, jobs and public services. Now we see it is even worse than we feared. Today’s leak shows the European Commission preparing to sell us down the river, doing deals behind closed doors that will change the face of European society for ever. It is simply unacceptable that a group of unelected officials should be allowed to contemplate such a thing without any public scrutiny.”

Hilary continued: “Today marks the end of TTIP. Total secrecy was the only way the European Commission could keep the European people from learning the truth about these appalling negotiations, and now the cat is out of the bag. We call on the governments of Europe to halt the TTIP talks immediately, disband the EU negotiating team and hold a public inquiry into how such a damaging set of negotiations was ever allowed to get this far.”